Nissan’s new technology improves drivers visiblity

Looking through your rearview mirror and trying to see what’s behind the car in messy weather conditions can be quite tough. A car overflowing with a full soccer team and glare from the sun, trailing cars and headlights could obscure vision to the rear, increasing the possibilities of traffic collisions. Nissan’s Smart Rearview Mirror solves this problem. A 1.3 megapixel camera mounted at the back of the vehicle records everything behind the car while streaming it onto the mirror itself.

This enables the driver with a clear view behind the vehicle regardless of weather or traffic conditions and faulty lighting, and provides the ability to check for blind spots. It greatly enhances the rear field of vision by providing a wider and clearer view, something a normal rearview mirror cannot do.

An additional feature is the switch option, which allows the user to alternate between the traditional and the camera view. Furthermore it will provide drivers with higher visibility and better understanding of conditions behind the vehicle to increase safety. This smart mirror will be introduced at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show on the ZEOD RC electric car and plans to introduce the product to markets at around 2015.

Since the smart mirror replicates what you would see by looking through the rear window, it is expected that Nissan will continue to use this feature to influence the design of cars. The camera could be placed at the front and at the sides of vehicles, giving the driver a clear, HD 360 degree field of vision around the vehicle. People driving large vehicles could find this to be an extremely handy tool. It can also be used in parallel parking where the driver can check both the rear and front of the vehicle simultaneously to make sure they have enough space. A few months ago, BMW introduced the adaptive headlights. Using cameras installed onto the car, it detects oncoming traffic and switches the headlights from high to low beam accordingly so the other driver is not blinded while illuminating the road ahead.

If a preceding car is detected by the camera, the headlights will open up a tunnel and the beams illuminate both sides of the preceding car instead of shinning onto them head on. The camera constantly tracks the preceding car so the headlights are constantly being adjusted its position. This increases visibility and safety during driving and greatly reduces the dangers of traffic accidents at night.

About the contributor: Chris is a student attending Unionville High School and hopes to study computer engineering/science in the future. His interests lie in technology of all sorts including phones, games and cars.